New Testament Baptist Church

Follow peace with all men…-HEBREWS 12:14

God commands us to have peace with everyone, not just the people who treat us fairly or who are kind to us. If we were to make our obedience of God’s command of longsuffering dependent on how others treated us, we would never show patience! There is much injustice in our world, and we can be assured we will be treated wrongly. That doesn’t  mean we are to ignore God’s command and react harshly.

Have you ever said something unkind in the heat of a moment that you later regretted? Many times, a lack of patience can cause us harm. Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.” When we practice patience and longsuffering even when we are wronged, we are protecting ourselves from reacting harshly and ruining our testimony.

Consider the patience and longsuffereing of Christ. Time and time again He was tempted, mocked, questioned, and discredited; yet He held His tongue and suffered with silence. Christ endured the pain and shame of the Cross silently, even though He did not deserve it.

When others treat you wrongly and you feel the urge to retaliate, think of what the Lord went through during His earthly ministry. He was abused, mistreated, and unjustly persecuted. Yes as Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

Patience is not easy to practice when others wrong you. When you feel like reacting harshly, ask the Lord to help you become like Him and respond with patience and love.

JEREMIAH 48-49 & HEBREWS 7

a daily WORD by PAUL CHAPPELL